The Larsen ice shelves are perhaps the most infamous so far
Located near the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula, Larsen A collapsed in 1995, while Larsen B disintegrated in 2002. In early February of 2022, a large mass of multi-year sea ice had accumulated and frozen itself to the shoreline of the Larsen B embayment. This 'landfast ice' was seen to slow the advancement of the glaciers around the embayment somewhat, but then that ice completely broke apart in a matter of days.
Larsen C, located farther south along the peninsula, calved off iceberg A-68, which held the title as largest iceberg in the world from 2017 to 2021. The rest of Larsen C continues to hold fast. Still, scientists are watching it closely as Larsen A and B collapses were preceded by large icebergs breaking away.
This view of the Larsen A and B embayments includes annotations showing the past extents of the ice shelves, and includes an inset map of the entire Larsen ice shelf. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
GLOBAL CONSEQUENCES?
The complete loss of the Conger Ice Shelf is something of a surprise, though. It is also a cause for concern.
In East Antarctica, we have not generally seen the same level of impacts due to climate change that have been witnessed in West Antarctica. Based on that, it was thought that this ice shelf would likely persist for many years to come.
Fortunately, the loss of this particular ice shelf will apparently have few immediate consequences.
It is not expected to contribute to the global rise of ocean levels because the iceberg and sea ice that once made up the ice shelf displaces the same amount of water the ice shelf did before the collapse. The only change has been that the ice is no longer attached to the glacier on land.
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